Yes / Public sector state funded organisations were initially constructed to deliver much needed services to their immediate community. Designed to meet the needs of societies and populations, public sector operations focussed originally on the provision of health, welfare and social services, which were often free at the point of delivery or incurred a nominal charge. Today the effectiveness of public sector service organisations is constantly challenged and threatened by factors such as funding cuts, austerity measures, competition from private providers and political changes (e.g. the departure of the UK from the European Union and the shrinking of the state in many countries). With a focus on public sector efficiency and economic gains, the boundaries between public and private operations are becoming increasingly blurred, fuzzy and complex. To maintain economically sustainable services, public providers need to become more strategic, transparent and innovative in their decision-making, funds allocation and expenditure, workforce development and operations management, whilst acting in an ethical and responsible manner to maintain public confidence and trust.

[ES] El presente trabajo aborda tres elementos que contribuyen de forma consistente a la mejora de la competitividad de las empresas: la innovación, el portfolio de relaciones, la competencia relacional. El portfolio de relaciones abarca los vínculos establecidos por la empresa con otros agentes del entorno y la coloca en un contexto de red frente a los mismos. La gestión efectiva de dicha red de relaciones permite el acceso a una serie de recursos tangibles e intangibles que la empresa puede conjugar con sus recursos internos para mejorar sus acciones de innovación. El objetivo abordado mediante esta investigación es analizar el efecto del portfolio de relaciones, creado a partir de una red de conocimiento, sobre la innovación de la empresa y, además, estudiar en qué medida la competencia relacional (network competence) de las empresas analizadas media la relación antes mencionada. El trabajo empírico se ha realizado sobre la población de bodegas adscritas al Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Protegida Alicante. Las principales conclusiones que se derivan del estudio son: a) el portfolio de relaciones es parte del capital social de la empresa y representa una fuente de recursos y conocimientos externos que enriquece el conjunto de inputs para el proceso innovador de la empresa; b) la contribución fundamental de la competencia relacional radica en la puesta en valor y la gestión a largo plazo del portfolio de relaciones, con la consecuente aportación de valor a la empresa mediante las relaciones de intercambio de basadas en confianza y buenas prácticas. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que el portfolio de relaciones de las bodegas influye positivamente sobre los tres tipos de innovación contemplados y que la competencia relacional ejerce un efecto mediador parcial complementario sobre la relación antes mencionada. Asimismo, dichos resultados han permitido la formulación de una serie de recomendaciones a nivel de bodega y a nivel agregado. Por último, a partir de las limitaciones presentadas, se han propuesto algunas líneas futuras de investigación para atender dichos desafíos. / [CA] Este treball aborda tres elements que contribueixen de manera consistent a la millora de la competitivitat de les empreses: la innovació, el portfolio de relacions, la competència relacional. El portfolio de relacions abasta els vincles establits per l'empresa amb altres agents de l'entorn i la col·loca en un context de xarxa enfront d'aquests. La gestió efectiva d'aquesta xarxa de relacions permet l'accés a una sèrie de recursos tangibles i intangibles que l'empresa pot conjugar amb els seus recursos interns per a millorar les seues accions d'innovació. L'objectiu abordat mitjançant aquesta investigació és analitzar l'efecte del portfolio de relacions, creat a partir d'una xarxa de coneixement, sobre la innovació de l'empresa i, a més, estudiar en quina mesura la competència relacional (network competence) de les empreses analitzades mitjana la relació abans esmentada. El treball empíric s'ha realitzat sobre la població de cellers adscrits al Consell Regulador de la Denominació d'Origen Protegida Alacant. Les principals conclusions que es deriven de l'estudi són: a) el portfolio de relacions és part del capital social de l'empresa i representa una font de recursos i coneixements externs que enriqueix el conjunt d'inputs per al procés innovador de l'empresa; b) la contribució fonamental de la competència relacional radica en la posada en valor i la gestió a llarg termini del portfolio de relacions, amb la conseqüent aportació de valor a l'empresa mitjançant les relacions d'intercanvi de basades en confiança i bones pràctiques. Els resultats obtinguts mostren que el portfolio de relacions dels cellers influeix positivament sobre els tres tipus d'innovació contemplats i que la competència relacional exerceix un efecte mediador parcial complementari sobre la relació abans esmentada. Així mateix, aquests resultats han permés la formulació d'una sèrie de recomanacions en l'àmbit de celler i a nivell agregat. Finalment, a partir de les limitacions presentades, s'han proposat algunes línies futures d'investigació per a atendre aquests desafiaments. / [EN] This work addresses three elements that systematically contribute to improving the competitiveness of companies: innovation, the relationship portfolio and relational competence. The relationship portfolio encompasses the links established by the company with other actors in the environment and places it in a network context vis-à-vis them. The effective management of this network of relationships provides access to a series of tangible and intangible resources that the company can combine with its internal resources to improve its innovation actions. This research aims to analyse the effect of the relationship portfolio, created from a knowledge network, on the company's innovation and, in addition, to study to what extent the relational competence (network competence) of the companies analysed mediates the relationship, as mentioned earlier. The empirical work has been carried out on the population of wineries belonging to the Regulatory Council of the Alicante Protected Designation of Origin. The main conclusions drawn from the study are: a) the relationship portfolio is part of the company's social capital and represents a source of external resources and knowledge that enriches the set of inputs for the company's innovation process; b) the fundamental contribution of relational competence lies in the enhancement and long-term management of the relationship portfolio, with the consequent contribution of value to the company through exchange relationships based on trust and good practices. The results show that the portfolio of winery relationships positively influences the three types of innovation considered. Likewise, they show that relational competence exerts a complementary partial mediating effect on the relationship above. Furthermore, these results have allowed the formulation of a series of recommendations at the winery and aggregate levels. Finally, based on the limitations presented, some future lines of research have been proposed to address these challenges. / Este trabajo se ha realizado con la ayuda económica de la Universitat Politècnica de València a través de la convocatoria de Contratos Predoctorales para la Formación de Doctores de la Universitat Politècnica de València – Subprograma 1 (PAID-01-08), con el proyecto titulado “Establecimiento de redes y flujos de conocimiento en clústeres empresariales. Un análisis de su influencia desde la perspectiva del Social Network Analysis”. / Fota, AE. (2024). Redes e innovación en el sector vitivinícola de Alicante. El rol mediador de la competencia relacional [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/206197

Climate change is currently one of the most pressing environmental concerns globally and in South Africa. South Africa is especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change because of the country’s socio-economic context, water scarcity, unique geography and climate sensitive biodiversity. South Africa’s road transport and energy sectors are among others major contributors to climate change. The traditional command and control measures designed to mitigate climate change in South Africa’s road transport and energy sectors do not suffice on their own, there is a need for tax-based fiscal measures to assist in mitigating climate change in these sectors. Tax-based fiscal measures offer certain unique climate change mitigation capabilities, therefore numerous tax-based fiscal measures are already in place in South Africa’s road transport and energy sectors. The development of new taxbased fiscal measures should be encouraged and existing tax-based fiscal measures can and should be refined and extended to enhance their climate change mitigation efficacy. / LLM (Environmental Law and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) the goal of universal health coverage is to ensure that all people obtain the necessary health services without being financial limped because of the payable fees. This requires: - A strong, efficient, well-run health system; - A system for financing health services; - Access to essential medicines and technologies; and - A sufficient capacity of well-trained, motivated health workers. In an effort to compliment the abovementioned, the South African government proposed the National Health Insurance System (NHIS) to address the health inequality and to improve access to quality healthcare for its citizens. The National Department of Health (NDOH) has already consulted with several stakeholders since the launch of the NHI Green Paper in August 2011. Already 11 National Health Insurance (NHI) pilot sites have been established in the nine South African provinces to assess the feasibility, acceptability, effectiveness and affordability to engage the private healthcare sector. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of the NHI in South Africa as well as the way in which it could be implemented to be more acceptable to all stakeholders involved. A qualitative research approach was followed due to the nature of the study. Furthermore, an exploratory methodology was applied in order to generate hypotheses. The research design for this study included a literature review, participatory data collection, semi-structured interviews and data analysis. The study found that there is a need for NHI in South Africa. However, medical practitioners (also referred to as general practitioners or GPs further in the study) feel uncertain about the implementation progress which is unclear to them. Also evident is the, fear for loss of income should the NHI be implemented and thus the remuneration package remained a main concern for all. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Climate change is currently one of the most pressing environmental concerns globally and in South Africa. South Africa is especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change because of the country’s socio-economic context, water scarcity, unique geography and climate sensitive biodiversity. South Africa’s road transport and energy sectors are among others major contributors to climate change. The traditional command and control measures designed to mitigate climate change in South Africa’s road transport and energy sectors do not suffice on their own, there is a need for tax-based fiscal measures to assist in mitigating climate change in these sectors. Tax-based fiscal measures offer certain unique climate change mitigation capabilities, therefore numerous tax-based fiscal measures are already in place in South Africa’s road transport and energy sectors. The development of new taxbased fiscal measures should be encouraged and existing tax-based fiscal measures can and should be refined and extended to enhance their climate change mitigation efficacy. / LLM (Environmental Law and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) the goal of universal health coverage is to ensure that all people obtain the necessary health services without being financial limped because of the payable fees. This requires: - A strong, efficient, well-run health system; - A system for financing health services; - Access to essential medicines and technologies; and - A sufficient capacity of well-trained, motivated health workers. In an effort to compliment the abovementioned, the South African government proposed the National Health Insurance System (NHIS) to address the health inequality and to improve access to quality healthcare for its citizens. The National Department of Health (NDOH) has already consulted with several stakeholders since the launch of the NHI Green Paper in August 2011. Already 11 National Health Insurance (NHI) pilot sites have been established in the nine South African provinces to assess the feasibility, acceptability, effectiveness and affordability to engage the private healthcare sector. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of the NHI in South Africa as well as the way in which it could be implemented to be more acceptable to all stakeholders involved. A qualitative research approach was followed due to the nature of the study. Furthermore, an exploratory methodology was applied in order to generate hypotheses. The research design for this study included a literature review, participatory data collection, semi-structured interviews and data analysis. The study found that there is a need for NHI in South Africa. However, medical practitioners (also referred to as general practitioners or GPs further in the study) feel uncertain about the implementation progress which is unclear to them. Also evident is the, fear for loss of income should the NHI be implemented and thus the remuneration package remained a main concern for all. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Research report presented to SBL, Unisa, Midrand. / The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of employees’ perceptions on the effectiveness of the board in the public sector. The units of analysis relevant to this research were the board of directors and the employees in the public sector. Thus, two questionnaires were designed: one for the board members, and the other for employees. The questionnaires were designed around various themes aimed at establishing the following: whether employees in the Public Sector perceive their Board of Directors to be effective, whether the Board of Directors in the Public Sector believe that their effectiveness is impacted by employee perceptions, and to determine what factors need to be in place to promote a positive relationship between employee perceptions and board effectiveness. The survey confirmed that the board members do believe that they are effective in the execution of their functions. The employees do agree that the board plays an important role in organisations, that organisations will be impacted negatively without the direction of the board, and that the board is conducting its roles and responsibilities as effectively as possible. In terms of whether the board of directors in the public sector believe that their effectiveness is impacted by the employees’ perceptions, the results from both the employees and members of the board were inclined towards ‘agree’ on the Likert scale. The survey also revealed that the prevalence of other factors in the organisation, (Transparency and Accountability, Communication, Stakeholder Relations Strategy, Board’s high Ethical Standard, Speedily Resolution of Labour disputes, Commitment to employee development, and Consistency in policy implementation), will have a high impact in their organisations, particularly in promoting a positive relationship between employee perceptions and board effectiveness.

Although power system load modelling is a mature research area, there is a renewed interest in updating available load models and formulating improved load modelling methodologies. The main drivers of this interest are the introduction of new types of non-conventional (e.g. power electronic interfaced) loads, the requirement to operate power supply systems with increasing levels of renewable distributed generation and the implementation of various load control functionalities (e.g. demand side management). As the majority of existing load models do not allow for a full and precise analysis of these new operating conditions, it is essential to develop new load models and update load modelling techniques. This thesis presents a detailed study of modern loads, focussing on the requirements for their correct representation in power system analysis. The developed models of the individual loads are then combined using a new load aggregation methodology for developing aggregate load models, suitable for the analysis of both existing and future power supply systems (so called ’smart grids’). The methodology uses a circuit-based load modelling approach, as this allows reproduction of the instantaneous current waveforms of the modelled load for any given supply voltage. This approach retains all electrical characteristics of the loads and provides a more realistic representation of some important phenomena (e.g. harmonic cancellation and attenuation due to load and supply system interactions) which are often neglected in traditional load modelling procedures. Case studies of the UK residential and commercial load sectors are presented as illustrations of the load aggregation methodology. The results show significant short-term and long-term temporal variations in the load characteristics, which are not available or reported in the existing literature. This information allows for a more comprehensive assessment of demand-side management functionalities and correlation with locally connected distributed generation. Both of these effects are investigated in the thesis by quantifying the possible extent and range of changes in power system performance for some expected near future changes in load configurations and network operating conditions.

This research explores the nature and extent of training and development (TD) provision, as well as top managers' and TD personnel's attitudes towards the TD function within the medium and large-size private manufacturing organisations of Saudi Arabia. Extensive details of the TD situation are provided and assessed for their adequacy, covering among other elements a descriptive analysis of the main characteristics of the organisations concerned, an evaluation of their TD plans and policies, and a review of their budget allocation and funding. The research then proceeds to describe and discuss the extent to which such organisations are applying a systems approach to TD, both in terms of its design and implementation. Thereafter, the main factors impeding the effectiveness of TD programmes are examined, followed by a consideration of the future challenges that are likely to increase the importance of TD for the organisations in question. The research has adopted a mainly descriptive approach and uses both quantitative and qualitative analytical methods. The required data were gathered through a combination of semi-structural interviews with a number of top managers, and survey questionnaires addressed to the persons responsible for TD within the targeted organisations. The sampling strategy was disproportional stratified random sampling. In total 16 senior executives, 132 medium-size organisations and 94 large-size organisations took part in the study. The findings reveal that although attitudes towards the value of TD are generally favourable, in practice in the majority of cases TD is under-resourced, unplanned and patchy, hardly the ideal features of a systematic model of TD that will enable private manufacturing business to successfully meet the challenges of the future ahead. The research ends with a number of specific and practical recommendations intended to improve the effectiveness of TD in the private manufacturing sector of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as a number of suggestions for further research.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Civil Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy