Thesis (M.Com. (Development Theory and Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2014. / After 20 years in existence democratic South Africa is at the crossroads while people lives have changed significantly after 1994, the country has faced increasing levels of unemployment and inequality. Drawing from the Keynesian theory of employment and recent financialization literature, this paper looks at the trends in financial income as a share of profits in the mining sector and how this has affected real investment in the sector and linking with the theory we look at how his behaviour has contributed to the employment levels in the sector. This retrospective look at the mining sector is done in order to pick trends that might give us better insight for policy interventions in the sector in order to create employment opportunities for the population going forward

Cette thèse analyse les différents aspects de la filière cotonnière au Mali en se basant sur ses atouts et limites à travers une démarche théorique, appliquée et de terrain. Cette filière est issue d’un long processus amorcé au début du 20ème siècle. Les gouvernements successifs après la souveraineté du pays en 1960 ont réservé une place de choix au développement des activités ayant un rapport direct ou indirect avec le coton. L’objectif était et reste d’assurer la participation du pays aux échanges internationaux à travers un produit pour lequel, l’économie bénéficie d’externalités positives en termes d’entrée de devises et de création d’emplois. Notre recherche nous a permis d’identifier les atouts du pays que les acteurs doivent améliorer et les défis endogènes qu’ils doivent relever, afin de pérenniser le développement de ce secteur qualifié de « space maker », au cœur d’une économie encore largement dominée par l’agriculture. La pertinence d’une spécialisation dans la production cotonnière est avérée à travers un modèle économétrique en « données de panel », qui permet de prendre en compte l’aspect temporel et spatial des structures de production cotonnière du pays en les restituant dans le contexte régional des pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest. Les résultats des différentes estimations classent le Mali en bonne position (leader, co-leader ou deuxième). Ce résultat doit conforter les acteurs du coton (États, Compagnie Malienne de Développement des Textiles, Producteurs) et les partenaires techniques et financiers à s’investir davantage pour améliorer la compétitivité de la filière, malgré que le pays soit en situation de preneur de prix « price taker », dans un environnement où certaines grandes puissances économiques (États-Unis, Chine, Espagne) produisent le même produit, en utilisant des moyens parfois critiquables, qui pénalisent la situation des producteurs dans les pays non développés.La crise qui a secoué la filière lors de la décennie 2000 a substitué l’or au coton comme première recette d’exportation (Instat-Mali 2012, Mainguy et al., 2013). Est-ce un argument suffisant pour délaisser la filière cotonnière ? Nous ne le croyons pas après avoir constaté lors de nos trois enquêtes de terrain son dynamisme et ses retombées sur les autres secteurs d’activités. En outre, l’impact de la dite filière sur l’amélioration des conditions socioéconomiques des populations demeure essentiel de sorte que, malgré ses défis, elle reste un levier majeur de la croissance économique du pays. / This thesis analyzes the different aspects of the cotton sector in Mali based on its strengths and limitations through a theoretical approach, applied and field. This sector is the result of a long process that began in the early 20th century. Successive governments after the country’s sovereignty in 1960 reserved a special place in the development of activities directly or indirectly related to cotton. The goal was and is to ensure the country’s participation in international trade through a product for which the economy has positive externalities in terms of foreign exchange earnings and job creation.Our research has allowed us to identify the strengths of the country that actors must improve and endogenous challenges they face, in order to sustain the development of this sector called "space maker" in the heart of an economy still largely dominated by agriculture. The relevance of specialization in cotton production has proven through an econometric model "panel data", which allows to take into account the temporal and spatial structures of cotton production in the country by returning in the regional context of West African countries. The results of the various estimates classify Mali in good position (leader, co-leader or second).This result should reinforce the actors of cotton (states, Malian Textile Development Com¬pany, Producers) and technical and financial partners to do more to improve the competitiveness of the sector, despite the country is experiencing "price taker" in an environment where some major economies (USA, China, Spain) produce the same product, using sometimes questionable means, that penalize the situation of producers in non-developed countries.The crisis that hit the industry in the 2000s has replaced cotton by gold as the first export earnings (INSTAT - Mali 2012, Mainguy et al., 2013). Is this a sufficient argument for abandoning the cotton industry? We do not believe it after seeing during our three field surveys its dynamism and its impact on other sectors. In addition, the impact of cotton production on improving socio¬economic conditions of the population remains essential so that, despite its challenges, it remains a major driver of the country’s economic growth.

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology. / Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

¿Cómo se puede definir la transparencia corporativa? ¿Es posible medirla? El objetivo de esta investigación es responder a estas interrogantes y elaborar un índice de transparencia para el sector de distribución de energía eléctrica en el Perú con el fin de medir el grado de transparencia corporativa en empresas públicas y privadas. El valor de este estudio radica en el énfasis actual de la transparencia corporativa, como factor de generación de confianza para los diferentes grupos de interés. Además de representar un recurso valioso para la toma de decisiones y medir la reputación institucional. Con respecto a la estructura que seguirá esta investigación; en primer lugar, empezaremos con la revisión de la literatura, a lo largo del cual se analizarán los distintos modelos a nivel mundial. En segundo lugar, se establecerá la metodología a usar para construir el índice, el cual estará conformado por dimensiones y variables debidamente definidas, ponderadas y sustentadas. En tercer lugar, la ponderación de cada una de las dimensiones será sustentada a través del análisis de la metodología AHP, que brindará la consistencia a los resultados obtenidos. Este índice se aplicará a 22 empresas pertenecientes al sector distribución de energía a través de la recolección de información secundaria. Finalmente, los resultados mostrarán diferencias significativas entre el nivel de transparencia de las empresas que cotizan en bolsa frente a las que no lo hacen. / Can corporate transparency be defined? Is it possible to be measured? The main objective of this research is to answer these questions and develop an index of transparency for electricity distribution`s sector in Peru. This index will aim to measure corporate transparency in public and private companies. The value of this study lies in the emphasis of corporate transparency. Furthermore, to build up trust among its stakeholders. Besides representing a valuable source for decision making and measure institutional reputation. Regarding to the structure this investigation will start with literature review. It is important to indicate that through the present work, worldwide models will be analyzed in detail. Then, the method will be stablished and to build the index. This index will contain dimensions and variables duly defined, weighted and supported. Also, weighting of each one of the dimensions will be supported through an analysis AHP`s methodology, providing consistency to obtained results. This index will be applied to 22 energy distribution`s companies through the secondary information collection. Finally, the results will show significant differences between transparency level of stock exchange listed companies and those that are not. / Tesis

Los Sistemas de Información son una necesidad cada vez mayor en todos los ámbitos de la economía nacional, son parte de las estrategias de automatización de los procesos en la búsqueda de mayor productividad además de ser usados por muchas organizaciones como el camino para el desarrollo de nuevas estrategias de negocios. Dentro de estas estrategias encontramos a las que desarrollan a la Bolsa de Energía, una institución similar a las bolsas de valores pero cuyo elemento de negociación es la energía y derivados financieros que la tienen como activo subyacente. / Tesis

En el presente trabajo se realiza un estudio desde la Constitución acerca de cómo viabilizar la negociación colectiva en el marco del empleo público, teniendo en cuenta las restricciones establecidas para este derecho como es el principio de equilibrio presupuestario, el cual es un bien jurídico que goza protección constitucional. En el empleo público, la negociación colectiva tiene una connotación totalmente diferente al ámbito privado, ya que mientras en el primer caso se puede ver afectado intereses particulares, en el segundo está en juego el interés público, por ello es válido que este derecho este sujeto a límites como lo es el principio de equilibrio presupuestario que tiene reconocimiento constitucional. El derecho a la negociación colectiva para los servidores públicos tiene reconocimiento constitucional y a su vez el Estado tiene el deber de fomentarla, así como las formas de solución pacífica de los conflictos laborales. De manera más precisa, el Estado debe adoptar las medidas adecuadas a las condiciones nacionales para fomentar el desarrollo del derecho y poder determinar las condiciones laborales de los servidores públicos (artículo 7° del Convenio 151). Ante las dificultades económicas o presupuestarias de muchas entidades la negociación colectiva bajo el modelo descentralizado se ha tornado poco eficaz ya que las materias que se demandan en una negociación requieren de una disposición presupuestaria por parte de la Entidad. En ese sentido, se debe de apuntar a una estructura centralizada para establecer de manera relativamente rápida una regulación de condiciones de trabajo para sectores productivos concretos, negociada entre pocos sujetos colectivos que se interrelacionan de manera habitual y en consecuencia pueden facilitar los acuerdos. Es así que a través de una estructura centralizada de la negociación colectiva es que se podrá dar cumplimiento al mandato constitucional contenido en el artículo 7° del Convenio 151. / Trabajo académico

The thesis explores narratives constructed by participants about an organization’s identities. I examine how identity-relevant statements were deployed as exercises in power, serving to legitimize and promote their authors. Framed within an interpretive paradigm, the research adopts reflexive approaches to consider participants’ understandings. I draw on organizational identity theory and empirical studies to explore the multiplicity and conflicting nature of identity in organizations. Literatures on organizational narratives, storytelling and power are also considered. The ethnography is set in a public sector organization in which I worked: the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA). Its role was to deliver the Government’s reforms to private pension provision in the UK; the reforms came into force in October 2012. The narrative data constructing the research were collected through semi-structured interviews with 60 members of the organization, transcripts of organizational events and a diary I recorded for a year. These data are augmented by a series of vignettes that weave in accounts of my experiences while working for and researching PADA. The analysis of narrative data is constructed in three chapters, each of which explores identity-relevant narratives from different perspectives. The first analysis chapter examines narrative data through five concepts: reflexivity, voice, plurivocity, temporality and fictionality. The second analyses identity narratives in two organizational events and the third explores my understandings of the organization’s identities from an autoethnographic perspective. The discussion chapter provides three readings that interpret the data through different lenses: narrative and storytelling, organizational identity and autoethnographic erspectives. I then make concluding remarks, including ideas for future research and the contribution of my research to the study of organizational identity. The primary contribution of the ethnography is to scholarship at the intersection of identity and power in organizations and specifically how identity-relevant narratives are deployed as exercises in power by participants. There are also contributions to narrative research methods, including the value of researching identity ethnographically. Additionally, I suggest practical contributions to literature on understanding issues of culture and sense-making in public bodies and how employees from different sector backgrounds (public and private) interact within a public sector context to deliver government reforms.

Over the past 20 years, governments in many countries around the world have sought to implement governance mechanisms to measure and assess the performance of public service organisations. As a consequence, public service organisations, especially those considered as poorly-performing organisations, have been subjected to unprecedented pressure to improve their performance and sustain performance improvement as a continuous process. However, efforts of public managers to improve the performance of their organisations have been undertaken without “comprehensive theories and rigorous evidence on this issue” (Boyne, 2006: 366). This thesis takes up the challenge of providing robust evidence on the factors associated with the performance improvement of public organisations. We propose that the notion of organisational capabilities offers a promising way to meet this challenge. From this standpoint, this research sought to identify the organisational capabilities whose development and use explain a public service organisation’s ability to improve its performance and sustain good performance in the long run. The empirical analysis was conducted in a population of hospital trusts in England. We firstly applied longitudinal and comparative case studies method into two acute hospitals trusts: one case of a successful performance improvement and one case of less-successful performance improvement. The purpose was to examine how the development (or lack of) a set of capabilities over time accounted for the differences in the performance outcome and trajectory of the two cases. Our findings identified the following capabilities as advantageous for achieving a sustained performance: collective leadership; action-oriented culture; effective clinical-managerial relationship; supportive external context; performance / finance control capability; coordination capability of the key delivery process; sensing capability and learning capability. We then employed quantitative method over the population of acute hospital trusts in England to explore the relationship between complementarities of capabilities and performance. The results demonstrated that only when in combination does the presence of the capabilities yield positive and significant association with performance. In other words, the presence of the whole system of the capabilities increases the trusts’ performance, while partial presence of a set of capabilities is either not significantly associated with, or even detrimental to, the trusts’ performance.

El presente trabajo titulado “Propuestas de Plan Logístico para mejorar la calidad de Servicio en una Empresa de Sector Minero” tiene el propósito de identificar y proponer alternativas para evitar el retraso en el cumplimiento de la entrega de los servicios y mejorar la calidad de los mismos. Así mismo establecer si los beneficios son de importancia significativa frente a los necesidades del cliente en el cumplimiento del servicio, para ello se realizó un análisis en el cual se identificaron las causas que originan los retrasos en el cumplimiento de los servicios. Para definir las causas que ocasionan los retrasos en el cumplimiento de los servicios se utilizo la herramienta FTA (Falut Tree Analisys), las cuales fueron realizadas internamente con el personal involucrado en el cumplimiento del servicio. / Tesis

As the public sector continues to face competitive challenges from the general public, the need for better service delivery and increased productivity has become extremely important. The increased need for optimum service delivery in public sector institutions like the Ministry for Home Affairs has had significant impact on its operations. However, little is known about the challenges faced by the Ministry for Home Affairs regarding the causes of the inefficiency. A range of organizational factors can affect the nature, effectiveness, excellence and novelty of service provision to members of the public.